Gas and liquid contact apparatus



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v 1 ACA INVENTOR. Carl Q4207 United States Patent 0.

3,450,393 GAS AND LIQUID CONTACT APPARATUS Carl Georg Muuters, 3 Danderydsvagen, Stocksund, Sweden Filed June 29, 1965, Ser. No. 468,064 Claims priority, application Sweden, July 7, 1964, 8,48'2/64 Int. Cl. F24f 3/14 US. Cl. 261-112 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a contact apparatus which is provided with a contact body mounted in a housing and which defines a plurality of channels or ducts through which gas and liquid are passed, the liquid being supplied from above by a spreader. This invention finds particular application to a cooling tower in which water is cooled by means of air. The contact body may be of known construction such as a maze of slats and the like although it is preferably provided with corrugations, which form the ducts or channels extending through the packing. In one particularly advantageous embodiment, the corrugations cross each other in adjacent layers forming ducts which continuously vary in width in horizontal, as well as in vertical direction.

One main object of the invention is to produce a spray ing device, which will assure an extremely even diffusion of the liquid despite the fact that it has no movable parts and is simple in construction. According to one main feature of the invention the sprayer comprises one of several slices or the like, which include corrugated sheets embossing one another in adjacent layers, so that vertically extending and sideways directed ducts will be formed for spreading the liquid. In order to impart to the cooling tower the maximum capacity per unit of volume, it is necessary that all the surfaces of the contact body shall be uniformly supplied with water, which according to another feature of the invention is accomplished, even though the water jets, which are arranged above the slice-like sprayer, are spaced relatively large distance from one another.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification and of which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a cooling tower according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial prospective view of the cooling tower packing and the spraying device drawn to an enlarged scale;

FIG. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of a cooling tower according to a modification;

FIG. 4 is a partial prospective view of the cooling tower packing and spraying device of the modification shown in FIG. 3 drawn to an enlarged scale;

FIG. 5 is a prospective view of a portion of a cooling tower packing and a spraying device according to another modification;

FIG. 6 shows a preferred embodiment of the packing.

Throughout the figures the same reference numerals indicate the same or similar parts.

3,450,393 Patented June 17, 1969 In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the cooling tower is provided with contact members or packings 10 which are enclosed within a cover 12 and are passed by both media, namely water and air, in cross or countercurrent direction. The contact members of packings 10 are composed of thin sheets which preferably are undulated or corrugated and positioned vertically. The corrugations 14, 16 in two adjacent sheets 18, 20 cross one another to form horizontal as well as vertical channels extending through the contact member. Furthermore, these channels vary continuously in width from 0 where the sheets contact one another to a width which is substantially twice the height of the corrugations. The height of the corrugations may range from 5 to 15 mm. or more. The sheets may consist of paper or of plastic materials as disclosed in the copending patent applications Serial Nos. 380,357 and 441,961, filed July 6, 1964, and March 23, 1965, respectively.

The air is admitted to the contact members through the openings 22 in the cover and pass through the channels in horizontal direction as indicated by the arrows 24, 26. The cover has an outlet opening 28 for the air at the top and in which a fan 30 is mounted which is driven by a motor 32.

The water is supplied to the cooling tower through the pipes '34, which along their bottom side are provided with outlet openings 36 and which are spaced from one another in the longitudinal direction of the pipes. Beneath the openings 36 are arranged vanes or bafiles 38 upon which the water jets impinge and are broken up.

On top of the contact members 10 according to the invention, slices or pads 40 are arranged which in the examples shown have the same general construction as the contact members, i.e., may consist of thin sheets 42, 44 which are corrugated or undulating with the corrugations crossing one another. The sheets are positioned in a vertical plane which preferably is perpendicular to the main direction of sheets 18, 20 of the contact members. The general direction of the latter coincides with the longitudinal direction of the pipes 34. The sheets or foils 42, 44 are preferably composed of a plastic material preferably of the type which does not burn such as polyvinyl chloride. The slice or pad 40 differs from the con tact members 10* in that the height of the corrugations are substantially smaller than in the latter.

The cooling tower is provided at the bottom with a water sump 46 from which the cooled water is conducted to the place of use through a conduit 48 in which is arranged a valve 50. The water level in the sump 46 is regulated by means of a float 52 so that additional water may be admitted to replace the water evaporated in the contact members. From the place of use the water is returned to the cooling tower through the conduits 34 to be cooled again. From the pipes 34 the water will run down onto the pad 40. This will cause the water to spread out due to the slanting corrugations so that even the spaces between the conduits 34 will be supplied with a satisfactory amount of water. From the pad 40 the water runs down onto the sheets of the contact members in uniform distribution over the entire frontal area, which in turn has a very advantageous effect on the cooling capacity of the contact member.

The channels in the pad 40 may be so narrow that a bridging may take place at the lower part of the channels due to surface tension or capillary force. However, in this case, it makes no diiference as the air does not pass through the channels of the pad 40. The Water drops down from the bottom openings of the channels in the pad 40 since the vertical height of the pad is greater than the capillary rise in the channels.

A vertical extension of the pad 40 is determined by the desired sideways distribution, which in turn depends upon the mutual spacing between the jet openings or the spacing between the rows of such openings. Another factor is the degree of slope in the corrugations with respect to the vertcial plane, which in turn affects the sideways distribution. This must be at least half the distance between two rows of jet openings, i.e. in the present case the distance between two conduits 34. According to the invention the water may be supplied through relatively large holes and spaced correspondingly large mutual distances while maintaining an even distribution over the frontal area of the contact member. The risk of the openings being plugged by deposit of scale formations will be lessened by making the openings larger.

In the modifications shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the two media are passed through the contact element 10 in counter-current direction. Thus the air is admitted from beneath through the openings 54 in the housing 12 and is drawn upwardly through the contact member which extends across the entire cross-sectional area of the housing. The water as in the first embodiment is supplied through the conduits 34 and the spreader slice 40. In view of the fact that the air stream passes upwardly through the pad, it is important that the duct terminals not become bridged entirely or partially by water droplets in such a manner that it will increase the pressure drop of the air in any substantial degree. The effect of the capillary force can to some extent be eliminated by providing good contact between the sheets of the pad with the sheets of the contact element 10. The risk of plugging will thereby be reduced due to the fact that the water will be passed to the sheets of the contact element 10 and then further downwardly. The height of the corrugations in the pad 40 in this modification may be somewhat larger than in the previous one in order to reduce the tendency toward bridging of water at the lower surface of the pad.

In this modification the contact element or packing 10 is supported on thin ribs 56, which serve as conductors for the water and thereby counteract the plug formation at the undersurface of the contact element. In this case the distance between the ribs 56 is greater than the spacing between the sheets in the contact element 10. The ribs preferably extend perpendicularly to the plane of the sheets 18, 20.

In order to expedite the passing of the air through the pad 40, the latter may be subdivided into smaller units or strips 58 (FIG. which are spaced from one another at such a distance that the air resistance problem will be eliminated which might cause bridging by water droplets in the sprayer slices 58 or by the air resistance produced by the slice 40 in FIGS. 3 and 4 even with bridging. Between the units 58 spacing members may be arranged, for instance in the form of rectangular pipes 60. Thus, in this case the main portion of the air will pass the one side of the sheets or partitions which distribute the water. The jet openings in the conduit 34 are preferably arranged directly above the strips 58.

In modification shown in FIG. 6 the sheets 18 of the packing member are longer than the sheets 20 so that the former with their lower edge portions 62 project below the lower edges of the sheets 20. In this manner are provided draining tips 64 which are wider in width than the average spacing between the sheets 18, 20. Thus, the downwardly flowing water is prevented from bridging the distance between the lower edges of the sheets.

A contact member or packing ordinarily has a vertical height which is many times greater than that of the spreader pad 40 or the strips 58. In this latter embodiment the contact body is passed by the air as in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. These embodiments may also serve to cool the water and may then have a greater vertical depth.

The packing or contact element may be constructed as disclosed in the U.S. patent specification No. 2,809,818.

While one more or less specific embodiment of the invention has been described, it is to be understood that this is for illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited thereby, but its scope is to be determined by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A gas and liquid contact device through which liquid flows by gravity in thermodynamic relationship with currents of air being passed therethrough comprising:

(a) at least two superposed units;

(b) each of said units comprising a plurality of facially opposed strips disposed in substantially vertical relationship to form a plurality of intersecting and intercommunicating open-ended passages for allowing passage of gas and liquid therethrough;

(c) the strips in at least the upper one of said units being corrugated with the corrugations in alternate strips crossing the corrugations in the strips disposed between the alternate strips;

(d) the strips in one of said units extending crosswise to the strips of the other unit;

(e) means for supplying liquid to the upper one of said units;

(f) means for passing currents of gas through said passages in contact with the liquid flowing by gravity therethrough; and

(g) the strips in the upper unit being spaced a smaller distance apart than the strips in the underlying unit.

2. A gas and liquid contact device through which liquid flows by gravity in thermodynamic relationship with currents of air being passed therethrough comprising:

(a) at least two superposed units;

(b) each of said units comprising a plurality of facially opposed strips disposed in substantially vertical relationship to form a plurality of intersecting and intercommunicating open-end passages for allowing passage of gas and liquid therethrough;

(c) the strips in at least the upper one of said units being corrugated with the corrugations in alternate strips crossing the corrugations in the strips disposed between the alternate strips;

(d) the strips in one of said units extending crosswise to the strips of the other unit;

(e) means for supplying liquid to the upper one of said units;

(f) means for passing currents of gas through said passages of at least the lower unit in contact with the liquid flowing by gravity therethrough; and

(g) the heightof the upper unit being substantially less than the underlying unit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,490,080 12/1949 Melvill. 2,783,982 3/1957 Kahl. 3,084,918 4/1963 Kohl et a1. 3,262,682 7/ 1966 Bredberg. 3,243,170 3/1966 Ellis et al. 261-94 FOREIGN PATENTS 571,510 8/ 1945 Great Britain.

TIM R. MILES, Primary Examiner. 

